MiDAS Driver Assessor also known as DA`s is designed for any organisation that wishes to provide their own in-house driver training. It is relevant to volunteers as well as paid employed staff, it covers legal, practical and safety issues and aims to improve passenger safety by providing the necessary skills and information for those who will be undertaking driver training for their organisation.
Ideally any prospective MiDAS DA candidate should have a broad understanding of driver assessment, coaching & training with knowledge of road safety issues.
Where the candidate perhaps does not have the desirable qualities above, Active MiDAS Training would recommend that an annual monitoring & mentoring process be implemented to ensure consistency.
What is involved in becoming a MiDAS DA
Potential independent DA`s and organisation must be a member of MiDAS, membership is free of charge.
It is essential that prospective DA`s possess the ability to convey information to trainees in both classroom & in-vehicle environment, be capable of making impartial decisions for their organisation paid and volunteer drivers. Undertake a four-day training course leading to Standard DA and a five-day training for Accessible DA.
DA Training Course Content
The course is modular in design and covers, amongst other things, the following topics:
- Background to MiDAS
- Responsibilities of the DA
- Planning and preparation
- Assessing drivers
- Training drivers (on-road and theory)
- Theory assessments
- Presentation skills
- Refresher training for drivers
- Setting up a MiDAS assessment and training programme.
In addition, Accessible DA`s would cover:
- The safe use of passenger lifts and ramps
- Wheelchair tie-downs and passenger safety belts
- Disability awareness
- Passenger assistance techniques
- Added legal/good practice considerations.
Normally Accessible DA`s would have some experience in the field, without that it might be a less useful learning experience.
Each Driver Assessor who successfully completes the course will receive a nationally recognised certificate valid for 2 years and a comprehensive Trainer Manual in an USB memory stick.
Potential DA’s within your organisation.
If you are unable to identify potential DA’s from within your organisation, Active MiDAS Training will happily undertake the assessment & training of any of your drivers.
